Dog of the Military: Frita Barnes And FMA Story
by LuckyXFridayX13
Summary: Following the life of O.C. Frita Barnes featured in Revisiting the River , State Alchemist, what does it really take to live as a Dog of the Military? Does it take something as simple as skill, or maybe wit, or does it take something more? Based off FMA manga/FMA: Brotherhood anime. One-shot.


Dog of the Military: Frita Barnes (An FMA Story)

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I rolled out of bed. I was back in Central, back at my apartment. It was time to get back to work. I buttoned up my white shirt and put on my blue military uniform. I pulled on my brown combat boots, my black leather gloves, and grabbed my silver pocket watch.

A horn beeped outside the door of my building; it was my ride. I ran out of my apartment, almost forgetting to lock the door behind me. I opened the door of the automobile.

"Hey, Hawkeye," I said.

She hit the gas and drove down the street. "That's _Colonel_ Hawkeye to you," She joked. "How are you, Frita?"

I shrugged. "Fine, I guess. It feels weird to be back in Central again." I paused, then continued, "I saw the Elric Brothers this time. They grew up a lot since ten years ago."

"That's good to hear. I haven't seen them in a quite some time. Have you heard of the new Non-Equivalent Exchange theory they've come up with?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I heard about that… I wonder if it's even a tangible idea."

She shrugged. "Those Elric boys have proven us wrong before. After all, Edward used to be the youngest state alchemist until he lost his ability two years ago. He was something, I'll tell you that. His brother, Alphonse, isn't short on skill either."

I thought about it the rest of the way there. What if the Equivalent Exchange theory was turned on its head? That would certainly be something.

When I got to the office, I found a lovely heap of paperwork _swallowing_ the surface of my desk. I let out a frustrated breath. _So this is what happens when you take time off two weeks before your State Alchemist Evaluation? _I thought as I took a seat. I had piles of reports to catch up on from various high-ranking people. Nobody would take my word on anything, I supposed. I was going to shoot Mustang sky-high the next time I saw him. Half of the paperwork was from him. I set to writing reports, signing papers, and thinking of all the ways I would torture Brigadier General Mustang if he weren't my bona fide superior. Ugh, what a headache.

I was screwed if what I was going to try for my exam didn't work. Although they all seemed satisfied with what I usually showed, I was taking a new approach this year: a combination of demonstration and research. It was risky business, but it's what I had to do. If I failed, I would probably have to renounce the title State Alchemist, along with all of its privileges… and the pay check. Let's not forget that wonderful check. There was no way anyone would hire me for the amount I was making now.

A Second Lieutenant by the name of Jeremiah Welsh came by for General Mustang's reports in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I was only about halfway done with it, since _everyone_ in the godforsaken military had decided they needed to check up on my progress.

"Major Barnes, Mustang sent me over to see if you've finished a report for him," he said.

I shook my head and leaned back in my chair, twirling a pencil in between my fingers. "Sorry, Welsh. I've been up to my eyeballs in freaking reports and forms and crap all day. I'll be surprised if I finish by next Tuesday," I complained.

He laughed heartily, "Well, the General will skin me alive if it takes that long, and you too. Hey, do you want some coffee? You look beat."

I nodded, "I am. I had a long train ride and I've been pulling all-nighters a lot. You know, with my alchemy exam is coming up and I have to make it good if I'm going to keep my license."

"Well, I don't think you'll have much trouble with that. How long have you been with the state? Nine years now?"

I nodded. "Yes, since the tail-end of the Ishval conflict, 1908." I had set to doing work on some forms that needed signing.

He nodded. "Well, I'd like to stay and chat, but I have some more work to do. Maybe we can get together and talk sometime outside of work?"

I raised an eyebrow. "How about grabbing a drink later tonight? I actually have a question for you."

He smiled. "Sure. Want to meet at that tavern across the street from here?"

"Okay, meet you there at eight."

He left, grinning from ear to ear. I rolled my eyes and finished the report for Mustang. God, I so wanted to hurt that sadistic man. I was pretty sure that he knew I had an exam coming up. And what was with Welsh's smiling? I hoped he wasn't getting the wrong idea when I asked him to go out for a drink. I did have my own motives for that-selfish motives. I needed a favor, and I needed it fast.

I did indeed finish the majority of my paperwork by the time I went home at six. I changed out of my uniform and into a white button-down shirt and my olive green "man pants", as my colleagues and friends called them. I liked them; I had an older brother at one time… he used to wear the same thing. Most people would tell me to "grow up" and wear clothing made for women, but I wasn't looking for a husband. I left the top two shirt buttons opened. It was hotter than Hell out.

I got into the tavern and sat at the bar. I ordered a good old fashioned bottle of beer. Welsh arrived five minutes later, ordering the same thing and lighting a cigarette. "Sorry, I hope this doesn't bother you," He said, "It's just been a helluva day and I need something to calm my nerves."

I shrugged, "'S fine. I was a smoker back in Ishval, since the military gave us rations and I was a ball of nerves. I mean, I was only seventeen years old when I was sent to the front with the other State Alchemists… Hughes, rest his soul, Mustang, Major Armstrong, that monster Kimblee… not to mention I was with Hawkeye during that war. She was the best sniper I knew... still is… well, enough reminiscing. Anyway, I quit a few years ago since I realized it was ruining my endurance… and my paycheck."

He nodded. "I only joined the military a few years ago, after the conflict ended. So I guess you could say I'm a little bit inexperienced."

I shook my head. "You should count yourself lucky that you waited until after the war was over. I tested that year before it ended because I had nothing to lose."

He frowned. "What didn't you have to lose?"

I paused. "…My parents died in front of my eyes when I was fourteen. I knew alchemy, but I couldn't save them in time. I studied up and became a State Alchemist... I wanted to be proactive and hunt down other killers, before the same thing happened to another kid." I took off my leather glove. "This is what I did to myself so I'll never have to draw another one." He cringed at the sight of my scar; I carved it into my skin when I was fifteen years old.

Have you ever watched your loved ones be killed in front of your eyes? Your father, mother, and older brother's blood flowing across the floor after they'd been carved up by a psychopathic murderer? I witnessed it when I was only fourteen. The killer… I'd never forget his name… Joey Flay. _Flay_. What a sick joke. He was a lunatic. He said I was a pretty little thing, said he'd carve me up last. He said he wanted to see me scream the piercing scream that the young women always shrieked. I wanted to kill him before he killed my family, but my hands shook so hard that when I tried to draw a transmutation circle, the chalk fell out of my hands. The sad excuse for a circle I scrawled onto the bloody floor wasn't enough. He killed my brother before I could transmute the electric particles in the air to a charge and send it straight into his heart. He fell dead onto the floor, along with my family. I crawled to the telephone and called the police. They took me into protective custody.

That night, I took out a pen knife. I cut a crude transmutation circle into my hand. It hurt, but I didn't cry; I wouldn't cry for myself. The blood loss put me into the hospital, where I received a visit from none other than Mustang and Hawkeye. They chewed me out for what I did, saying I could've killed myself from the amount of blood I lost. They did say that it was a shock that was five times stronger than your average bolt of lightning. The coroner could tell by the damage done to the killer's heart. That was the last I saw of them… until two years later. I took the test that year, and passed with flying colors. I had been dubbed The Bolt Alchemist, for my electricity alchemy. I had to say, the last couple years in Central had been insane. The whole heist in the government was just amazing… not in the good way, though. I spent a lot of time doing damage control, keeping the people safe. I was sort of like a masked avenger… No one mentioned me in the Ishval war either. That was okay. I hated the spotlight. I was a Frita Barnes, Dog of the Military… no hero, by any means. I was just someone whose pride had been hurt. Simply a woman who maybe felt like serving her country could redeem her act of cowardice.

"Look, I would love to tell you all about my life story, but I'm going to cut to the chase. I need someone to help me for my evaluation. You see, I'm doing something along the lines of a cross between an alchemical demonstration and research. It's crazy and dangerous, but it's a new way to use electrical alchemy. I figured it out by reading some of my parent's old medical books."

"Well what is it?"

I leaned closer to him and after looking around to see that no one was listening in, said in a hushed tone, "I figured out how to control muscles in the human body. My parents were doctors. One day, I was leafing through them when I came across a fact: muscles are controlled by electric charge. By using alchemy to alter charges, you can control the muscles of the human body. I've only used it on rats… I have no idea whether it'll work on people…"

"That's amazing! Of course I'll help! To think, I'll be the first person to ever test this."

I said doubtfully, "Don't get too excited. It will most likely be painful… I would be controlling your muscles. And it takes a lot of precision to do, and one charge that I send… if it's too strong, game over. I've sent bolts five times the amperage of _lightning_. You would be putting your life on the line; the most I could do for you would be to shock your heart to life again."

He ran his fingers through his spiky blonde hair. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. Besides, rats in a state test for something of this magnitude would be lame."

I nearly grinned. "Thank you," I said in my solemn way. I finished my beer ad left to practice on the rats some more for the exam. Now that I had a human life in my hands, I couldn't make an error. It had to be flawless.

Two weeks later, it was exam day. I got up extra early to practice with the rats one last time. After that, I let them go. It didn't feel fair to keep them locked up after I'd been experimenting with them for so long.

I pulled on my uniform and went outside earlier to wait for Riza. She came five minutes early, so she was surprised to find me standing out there. I got in the car.

As we drove, she said, "Good luck on your test today."

I nodded. "Thank you. I'll need it this time around."

We arrived at the testing grounds. It was a large warehouse that I would be testing in. I saluted my evaluators, which included Brigadier General Roy Mustang. There were also some higher-ups whom I hadn't seen before.

"Evaluators, my name is Major Frita Barnes. Today, I will be doing a demonstration based on my research with the assistance of Second Lieutenant Jeremiah Welsh. With your permission, may I please begin?"

The Head Evaluator nodded. "Go ahead, Major Barnes."

"You ready?" I murmured to Welsh.

He said back to me, "Never been more ready for anything."

He did exactly what we had planned; he came at me with a knife. I snapped my fingers to start the charge. Then I sent microscopic bolts of electricity into his muscles, controlling the ones in his fingers to make him drop the knife. I then controlled his leg muscles to bring him to the ground and restrain all movement.

It received a standing ovation from all of the judges. I gave Welsh a hand up and then saluted them again. When we got out of the room, I let out a deep sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.

Welsh had an uneasy look on his face. "Are you okay?" I asked, "Did it hurt a lot?"

He shook his head. "No, I barely felt a thing. It's just… there's something I've been meaning to tell you.

He gently lifted my chin and pressed his lips to mine. I almost dropped my guard and kissed him back, but my instinct took over and I instead pushed him back. "Hey! What was that for?!" I exclaimed in bewilderment.

He lowered his head. "I should say the same to you. Look, that's my way of saying… I'm in love with you, Major Frita Barnes."

My eyes widened… then I my face softened. "I'm sorry, Second Lieutenant Welsh. I can't accept that right now… A relationship with a colleague would be very… complicated, to say the least."

He looked away. "No… it was stupid anyway."

I looked him straight in the eye. "No, Welsh," I said, "It wasn't. It's just, I'll never really have time for a relationship. I mean, you're a nice guy… you don't deserve someone like me… a woman who never smiles. Once again, I'm sorry."

He turned away, "I'm sorry too… Frita." He rushed away, leaving me all alone outside the foreboding door.

Two days later, I got my score for my State Alchemy Evaluation. I had gotten a perfect score, along with a personal visit from the Mustang. Even so, I felt horrible. I had really hurt Welsh. He didn't even report into work the day after the exam.

Mustang came to my desk. "Congratulations, Barnes. You've been awarded a very generous pay bonus."

That came as shock. I stood and saluted General Mustang. "Thank you, sir," I said.

He nodded. "At ease, Barnes. I've got to hand it to you, that was an interesting tactic you used; I'd be very interested in hearing about it. How about coming down to my office now and having a chat."

I followed him to his office. I told him about my parent's medical journals and my experiments. I explained in detail the way I used the tiny electric shocks to control muscles.

He said to me, "Wow, I'm actually impressed with your ingenuity. Most alchemists wouldn't have thought of using alchemy to control muscles. Bravo, soldier."

I saluted him quickly before leaving his office. I passed Welsh in the halls; he smiled at me like nothing that happened. I gave him a short wave as I passed. When I looked back at him, his look was dark, almost scary.

I got a ride home from Riza. I told her about Welsh.

She put a hand on my shoulder. "Give him some time," She told me, "He'll come around. I think what you did was the right thing; It would have been unprofessional, had you accepted his affections. And frankly, Frita, it would be plain awkward if you two had a relationship."

I shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so… Well, thanks for the advice. I'll see you later, Riza."

I went up to my apartment and heated up some leftover tomato soup. After eating my dinner, I put my bonus check away in my night table drawer. The radio was buzzing in the background while I worked on paying the bills that were on the countertop. It was some sort of talk show. I couldn't stand the voice of the woman, so I changed it to the news. Apparently, there were some terrorists back east who had bombed a train. There were ten fatalities and over thirty injured. I cringed at the body count.

There was a knock at my door. I got up and looked through my peephole: It was Second Lieutenant Welsh. I opened up. "Welsh… What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

He shrugged. "I wanted to talk, I guess. I feel bad about leaving it like we did."

"Well come in, I guess," I told him. I led him into my small kitchen. "You can sit down, if you like." I said, motioning to a chair at the table. He sat down. "I'll make some coffee," I said.

I turned around and filled the coffee pot with water from the faucet. "Are you sure you didn't like the kiss? You didn't feel anything at all?" He asked while my back was turned.

I shook my head. "The answer is still no."

"That's a shame…" He said.

Suddenly, I was forced back. I felt a stabbing pain in my hand. Before I knew it, there was a knife stuck straight through it, pinning me to the wall. The coffee pot shattered to the floor. Another knife was pressed to my neck. Beads of crimson blood appeared.

"What are you doing?!" I sneered.

"Did you ever think of me when you said no? I'm in love with you, but if I can't have you, no one will!" There was a wild look of desperation in his eyes.

"This is completely lunacy!" I growled.

"No. This is what was meant to happen!" He shouted "You're going to die in this spot. You can't transmute without a circle, and it's impossible for you to draw one in your position!"

"That's where you're wrong!" I said, stamping his foot; his knife was knocked away and wildly slice my cheek.

I slammed my hand into his face and sent a charge strong enough to knock a full grown horse out for three hours. He fell to the floor, stunned.

I hurried to the telephone and called Central. I yanked the knife out of my hand and tied a towel around it. The blood on my face was flowing strong. I grabbed a rag and tried to stop it, but it was deep. The knife was long and sharp, slicing through me like butter. I was beginning to feel light-headed. I crawled to a drawer and took out an old pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I stuck one in mouth and lit it. It was the first one I had had in five years, and also the last.

"You forgot the free hand, bub. You were foolish to think you could be a match against a State Alchemist," I murmured to his limp body in between puffs on the noxious smoke, "You low-life piece of _crap_."

The rags kept soaking through with blood; I was on the fourth one when the MPs came, along with Mustang and Hawkeye.

"Are you alright, Barnes?" Mustang asked while the MPs cuffed Welsh's wrists and ankles.

"I'm fine. I've had far worse injuries," I said sharply. Then I winced at a shooting pain in the right hand; the one that was stabbed straight through.

"Get her to a hospital!" Mustang commanded, eyeing the rags on the floor, "She's lost some serious blood."

I road in the front of a military grade armored car while holding the fifth dish towel to my head. When we arrived at the military hospital, I was rushed to the emergency room, where they stitched up the gash. They cleaned my hand wound and wrapped it. They urged me to stay in the hospital, but as soon as they finished stitching me up, I hurried to Mustang's office. He was waiting there.

"What happened there, Major?" He asked me.

"Sir… Welsh went lunatic and kind of tried to kill me," I said.

"Any idea of what his motives were?" He asked.

"It's complicated, Sir," I said.

He sat down across from me at his desk. "Well, hurry up then. The doctors will hunt me down and stab me with their scaffolds if I keep you in this condition for too long."

"Well… Welsh admitted that he had feelings for me after the exam in a very… over-zealous way."

"And what way would that be, Barnes?"

"He kissed me, sir," I replied bluntly. "However, I did not return his affections and he took it very harshly. There may have been some psychologically wrong with him from the start."

He sighed, resting his head in his hand. "God, this is stupid. What is it with this job?"

I shrugged. "We're in the military, sir. And State Alchemists, at that. It's a crazy life."

Riza came in just then. "I take it you were briefed, Barnes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Her look softened. "It's after hours. You don't have to be so professional with me. C'mon, your house is under investigation right now, and you probably don't want to go back there anyway. Now go to the hospital, you have a _hole in your hand, _for God's sake. This isn't a war zone."

I was submitted to the hospital for the next week. They took me into surgery and managed to save my hand, as injured as it was. Honestly, the pain didn't bother me. I had sustained three bullet wounds in combat: two in my right leg, one in my left arm. Those weren't treated for hours. As I sat in the hospital bed, receiving occasional visitors from friends and neighbors but usually all alone, I pondered whether it was really quite worth it. I had a lot of time to think, and a lot to think about.

The day I was back at work, I got many warm welcomes from my colleagues, who appeared to be worried about me. This was especially true for Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong, who literally picked me up and nearly hugged me to death.

I went straight to Brigadier General Roy Mustang's office as soon as I got a chance. I placed a formal letter on his desk. He read it silently, then set it down on his desk. "So you're resigning, Major Barnes? This is quite unexpected."

I cast my eyesight towards the floor. "With all due respect, Sir, I don't know if the military is for me anymore. All it's done is caused trouble in my life… I haven't even been able to achieve the goal I was after when I first took the State Alchemist Exam. I wanted to work for the people."

He nodded. "You know, you remind me of the Fullmetal Alchemist, Major Barnes. You're a lot less short-tempered, and a whole lot taller, but all the same… Both of you work with the people in mind," He said, "When I first met you and saw what you did to the killer of your family, I saw that you were capable of great things. You are the Bolt Alchemist, one of the finest there is- and I'm not just saying that. I believe that we would suffer a great loss without you… Plus, I believe you're just wussing out. So I'll offer you a deal: If you stay with the military, I'm willing to allow you to work for the people. You'll travel around to take care of problems that the military as a whole won't have time to deal with, but you can solve. Will you accept?"

I weighed the optioned. _Working for the people, huh? _ I thought. It was what I had wanted all along. "Yes sir, I most certainly accept!" I said firmly.

He smiled smugly. "Excellent. Then your first assignment is in a small town not far from Western Command. There have been some strange happenings involving alchemy… People are disappearing. Go check it out."

I smiled for the first time in a long while. "Thank you, Flame Alchemist. I'll get right on it."

"You'd better, Bolt Alchemist. Don't let me down, because this is a onetime deal. I'll have a lot of explaining to do, so you'd better have some well-written, detailed reports sent my way."

I saluted him and headed out of the office. It was a long way to Western Command, and I needed to get there as fast as I could. There was a lot of work to be done, and so little time.

_*__Note: Some ranks, including Riza Hawkeye's and Roy Mustang's, have been changed for this story because it takes place a few years after the manga ends. So don't go off on me and say, "_'s rank is WRONG." Thank you. __^_^_


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